Lian Yu: Redemption
Post Season 5 one shot story. Does anyone survive Lian Yu and will Oliver ever see his friends again?
Chapter 1:
"God Damn it. Noooo!. Felicity!" Oliver screamed as he watched the flames spread over Lian Yu like wildfire. "I'm so sorry." He wept. He thought that he could outthink Adrian Chase, that with a little luck he could save them all. But that was just arrogance, the same arrogance that had brought him into this mess in the first place.
"Where's my mum?" William asked. He held his son tight, gripping onto him afraid to let go. He was all he had left now as he tried to drown out the screams of his friends.
"I am so sorry William, but your mum..."
"No!" William cried. He was a smart kid, something Oliver was sure he got from his mother. God, what twist of cold fate had placed Samantha on that island as well. He should never have found that cheque, should never have run that dna test or insisted on seeing Samantha. He should have left it all alone. "Mum." William cried out as they stood watching the flames together.
Oliver found himself torn between disbelief, unbridled rage and immeasurable grief. He wanted to turn the boat around and search every inch of the island for them. But he knew that he had to get William as far away from here as possible. His heart raced in his chest and he found it difficult to catch his breath. He felt is jaw stiffen and his hands clench into tight fists as he tried not to lose control, not while William still needed him. He wanted to kill Adrian Chase for what he had done, but he was already dead, spread out behind him with a hole in his head of his own making. "Damn you Chase." He cursed, "You never intended for any of us to make it off this island alive did you, you bastard!"
He felt the soft touch of her lips, as she kissed him unexpectedly, the smile on his face when he realised that she was finally his again and then the sound of her voice warning him of the danger. She had tried to warn him that there wasn't enough time, but he had begged her to try anyway. He couldn't let her just give up. He knew deep down in his heart that there was no chance that she could have made it. He doubted even he could have gotten to the other side of the island in time, let alone her. She never was very athletic he recalled, imagining all the times he had tried to train her to no avail. "Why do I need all that." She had teased him, "That's why I have you for."
Tears welled in his eyes as he watched the plumes of smoke climb into the clouds above as they choked out the light.
"What are we going to do now?" William asked as he looked to Oliver for the answer, one hand still gripped around Oliver's waist.
"Damn it." He took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts. We've faced worse odds than this before he thought to himself. "William, I need you to go inside and find somewhere safe to hide."
"Where are we going?" He asked as he trustingly began to follow Oliver's orders.
"Back to the island."
"Do you think my mum is still alive?"
"I hope so." He said, turning the key and starting the engines.
The smell of the trees burning was intense and the smoke was so thick that they could barely see in front of him. He coughed again, clearing his lungs as he called out their names over and over again. "Felicity, Samantha, Thea, Diggle."
It was impossible to know which direction they had gone in. He didn't even know the coordinates of the plane where they had started out from. All he could do was make a rough guess of where they might have started out, and plot a course towards the east side of the island. What he wouldn't give for a bit of technology right now, or Felicity's keen ability to track a person across continents. If they had a heartbeat, she could find them. He felt the overwhelming wave of fear and grieve build within him again and he pushed it down with what little resilience he had left. They were alive, they had to be, he needed them to be, needed her to be. He knew from his previous time on the island that there were a few places that they may have been able to survive in, if they made it there in time. Slade would have known that too and he prayed that he had taken them there. "Please." He prayed, "Let them be safe."
"We'll never make it in time." Lance had no illusions about how fast he could run, and he knew he couldn't make it in twenty hours let alone twenty minutes. He hadn't run since his time in the academy when he had to run track. These days, with old age setting he, he could barely walk let alone sprint for his life.
"You heard the kid." Slade ordered, slinging his weapon over his shoulder, "We need to go NOW!"
"I'm not going anywhere with you." Felicity said, shrugging of his attempt to grab her arm and escort her down the trail, "Oliver might trust you, but that doesn't mean I have to." She felt Curtis move in beside her, backing her play as Nyssa and Diggle flanked him on either side.
"We haven't got time for this guys." Rene tried to break the tension, they were wasting precious moments. He also knew that Slade was their best chance of getting out of here alive.
"Finally, someone with a brain. Let's go." Slade ordered again. Not waiting for a response, he grabbed Samantha by the arm and began sprinting across the island.
"Hey." They all called out as they took off in close pursuit, leaving the sabotaged plane behind.
"Stop, please, I can't." Samantha begged him but he only increased his pace further as she was dragged along with him.
"If you want to see your son again then you need to keep up."
"We're not heading East." Curtis noticed aloud after several minutes,
"Where are you taking us?" Felicity asked trying to keep up.
"Somewhere you'll be safe. Hurray we don't have much time." Slade had barely finished his sentence as the path behind them collapsed in on itself and the island erupted in another explosion of ash and timber.
"Oh god. Oliver!" Felicity panicked as she wondered where he was. No time to mourn, Diggle grabbed Felicity by the arm and dragged her along beside him, praying they would make it in time.